In recent years, the use of Internet-connected devices such as smartphones has grown exponentially. The number and variety of available software applications (or, equivalently, apps) for such devices has similarly grown by orders of magnitude. Presently, many diverse functions can be performed and many diverse sets of data can be analyzed on any given Internet-connected device. The applications that offer this functionality and data span business-oriented applications, educational applications, games, new applications, shopping applications, messaging applications, media streaming applications, social media applications, etc.
With such a wide array of available applications, many users of Internet-connected devices are not aware of the availability of applications that may perform functions and/or provide data of interest to the users. Even app developers, who generally focus on one segment of the market for applications, are unable to keep up to date on all of the applications that their users might find valuable in other segments. Further, no developer can expertly implement even a fraction of the spectrum of functionality available across the application ecosystem.
As a result, for any particular function, it is likely that most users do not already have an app installed that performs that particular function optimally. However, the user may be hesitant to install new applications for a variety of reasons. The user may not trust the application or the developer. Or the user may not want to install more applications than necessary, as installing more applications occupies device resources as well as increases cognitive load when using a device with an intimidating list of installed applications.
Further, the user may not want to go through the multiple interface steps and time delay of downloading and installing an application. The user may not want to evaluate and selectively approve permissions for the new app. In addition, the user may not know whether this action will ever be performed again or whether this new app will satisfactorily perform the action. As one more example, the user may not want to install a new app when much of the functionality of the app is either duplicative of apps the user already has installed or is simply unwanted.
The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.